$5 million judgment: Family wins court case against country club

KINGSTON, Mass. — How do golf balls turn into almost $5 million? When golfers continuously pepper a home with wayward shots.

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A Massachusetts couple sued a country club over what they called a “continuous threat” over the years by golf balls being hit by bad golfers, NBC News reported.

A Plymouth County Superior Court jury awarded Erik and Athina Tenczar $4.93 million in December after saying that Indian Pond Country Club was responsible for not making sure that the Tenczar home wasn’t hit by golf balls from the club’s course.

Of the decision, $3.5 million was for mental and emotional suffering, while the rest was for damages and interest, Fox Business reported.

The golf club did not respond to requests for comment by Fox Business.

The decision is being appealed, with attorneys for the club saying the judgment amount is excessive, NBC News reported.

“The continuous threat of golf ball strikes occurring at any time prevents the Tenczars from the use and enjoyment of their property,” according to the complaint.

They claim that errant balls hit their deck and yard, including an area set aside for their daughter, and in the front of their home where their driveway was located and where family and guests would park their cars, Fox Business reported.

They said they had to stay inside their home during the club’s hours of operation.

The Tenczars installed a wall to prevent damages and had requested that the country club install protective landscaping, netting or make changes to the layout of the hole to prevent damage to their property, Fox Business reported.

The couple bought the home for $750,000 in April 2017. At the time, they knew that the home was near the club’s 15th hole at the bend of a leftward curve. Golfers trying to take a shortcut by attempting to clear a treeline would instead hit the Tenczars’ home.

Indian Pond Country Club opened in 2001 and representatives had told police that the family “should have known of the problem before they bought the house,” according to court documents obtained by Fox Business.

Their attorney said the inconvenience of a ball landing on their yard once in a while was one thing, but a total of 651 golf balls hit their home, breaking windows multiple times.

One bad shot hit on July 18, 2018, scared their daughter and led to the family filing a police report.

“They thought they were buying golf-course-view property, and what they ended up buying was a golf-course-in-play property,” attorney Robert Galvin told NBC News. “It was apparent to anyone that (if) this house was going to be struck as repeatedly as this one was, they would (have) never bought this property.”

Indian Pond Country Club has since moved the tee box back on the 15th hole, which encourages golfers to follow the layout of the course instead of looking for a shortcut, NBC News reported.

The Tenczars also sued Spectrum Building Inc, which built the home. The two sides settled, NBC News reported.

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